Hat construction



y 1970 L. DEUTSCH 3,510,881

HAT coNsTRucTIoN Filed July 15, 1968 FIG. 1

mvsmon. Lester Deu'rsch ATTORNE Y United States Patent O M 3,510,881 HAT CONSTRUCTION Lester Deutsch, 60 E. 8th St., New York, 'N.Y. 10003 Filed July 15, 1968, Ser. No. 744,941

Int. Cl. A42b U.S. Cl. 2175 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Hats have heretofore been formed from woven fabric tape which is spirally wound to provide crown and brim portions, overlapped edge portions of the spirally wound tape being stitched together. While such hat constructions are economical to manufacture, they are somewhat deficient in their shape retaining characteristics and have a tendency to lose shape and to otherwise assume a somewhat disreputable appearance.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an improved hat construction in which the crown and brim portions are formed from a braided yarn tape enclosing a core of synthetic unwoven fibers; the resultant hat having superior shape retaining characteristics.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved hat forming element which comprises a thin flat core member formed from unwoven synthetic fibers and a braided yarn covering which envelops such core to form a fiat tape hat forming element which lends itself to spiral winding to form the crown and brim portions of a hat.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a hat formed in accordance with the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view showing a portion of a hat forming element, with parts broken away; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, designates a hat construction embodying the invention. The hat 10 comprises a crown portion 11 and a brim portion 12 integral therewith. The hat 10 is formed by providing a tapelike flexible strip 13 and winding the same spirally with the convolutions thereof having overlapping edges. While winding strip 13, the overlapped edges are stitched as at 14. The winding of strip 13 is in accordance with a predetermined pattern, to provide the brim portion 12 and the crown portion 11.

The strip 13 comprises a core member 15 of rectangular cross section; member 15 being encased in a braided covering 16. Braided covering 16 comprises the usual criss crossing yarns 17, 18 which may be of cotton, synthetic filaments or mixtures thereof.

Core member 15 is formed of nonwoven fibrous material derived from synthetic resin filaments, and more specifically set forth in Pat. No. 3,378,854. Thus, to form member 15, staple or continuous filaments are intermingled in random fashion and are secured together in the nonwoven structure by selected binder filaments.

3,510,881 Patented May 12, 11970 ice By Way of example, continuous filaments of polyethylene terephthalate and between 5 and 10% by weight of binder filaments of /20 polyethylene terephthalate/ isophthalate are bonded with simultaneous elongation of the polyethylene terephthalate filaments, by heating between screens at about 205 C. under a low pressure of about 0.5 pounds per square inch.

The resultant fabric is then slit into narrow strips 15 of suitable width, for combination with the braided covering 16. It has been found that such combination of core and covering, when used to form hat 10 by spiral winding and stitching, as described above; imparts to the finished hat improved shape retaining properties. Thus, a hat produced at relatively low costs exhibits characteristics normally found in more expensive hat constructions.

Synthetic fibers other then polyesters may be used in forming core member 15. Thus, polyamides such as nylon 66; isotactic polypropylene and polyacrylonitrile are suitable for the purpose. The nonwoven material thus described is distinguished by a high level of stretch with a tensile modulus of less than 900 pounds per square inch; a low density of about 0.07 to 0.13 gram/cm. together with a high level of softness as indicated by a bending length of 3.8 cm. or less.

It is understood that the braided covering 16 closely encases strip 15, and the spacing between said elements as indicated in the drawing, is for the purpose of clarity in illustration. The specific number of yarns 17, 18 and the details of the braiding operation may be varied to suit the hat 10 being formed from the resultant strip 16.

The yarns 17, 18 forming the braided covering 16 may be dyed the same or different colors to obtain desired ornamental eifects in the finished hat 10. Further, small amounts of yarns 17, 18 may be dyed to provide any desired color or combination of colors for relatively short runs of braided covering 16, inasmuch as the braidin g operation lends itself to short runs of braided product.

What is claimed is:

1. A hat comprising a flat tape element spirally wound to form a crown portion and a brim portion integral therewith, said tape element being wound with overlapping side edge portions and means for securing said overlapped side edge portions together, said tape element comprising a thin flat core member and a braided covering of textile yarns enclosing said core member, said core member being formed of unwoven polyethylene terephthalate fibers in random arrangement and polyethylene terephthalate/isophthalate binder fibers securing said nonwoven fibers together.

2. A hat as in claim 1 wherein said nonwoven fibers amount to about to about by weight and said binder fibers amount to about 5% to about 10% by weight.

3. A flat tape element for forming a hat, said tape element comprising a flat core member of rectangular cross section and a braided covering of textile yarns enclosing said core member, said core member being formed of a major proportion of nonwoven polyethylene terephthalate fibers in random arrangement and a minor proportion of polyethylene terephthalate/isophthalate binder fibers for securing said nonwoven fibers together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 660,529 10/1900 Johnson 2193 2,455,619 12/1948 Shrager et al. 2-194 3,076,199 2/1963 Dudley 2-l95 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner G. H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner 

